the strategic innovation process

a structured method for new opportunities

Do you know what will create growth in your company? Specifically - what types of customers and what products/services will fulfill your growth goals?

There’s a proven process for developing new revenue streams. But some companies take a trial-and-error approach and this often leads to frustation, wasted money, and lost time. They wrongly claim that ‘innovation’ is the culprit, but in fact, it’s the lack of a process that causes failed or struggling programs. Or they wrongly believe that they simply need a marketing refresh to spice things up and cut through the noise.

The good news is that there’s a structured process for finding, developing, and rolling out new or improved services or products. Every business needs a process for continually adapting to external changes. Developing a growth strategy isn’t what it used to be. Today, strategic planning is strategic innovation. This process creates new value for stakeholders - that means new revenue streams, new audiences, or new ways to package a solution.

To do this, you need to uncover blind spots and understand who, specifically and objectively, your ideal customer is and what they really want. You need a forum and facilitation to spark creative ideas that will be profitable. You need lean, yet effective methods to test and refine your concept and convert it into a buyable service. You need buy-in from team members and leading indicators that you’re getting traction.

This is the strategic innovation process.

Insights

Go to the source. Find market gaps and new business opportunities by uncovering blind spots about what prospective customers really want. Identify under-served audiences and unmet needs. Anticipate change and understand what’s becoming more important to your stakeholders.

A Voice of the Customer Snapshot provides customer insights.

Ideas

Identify new features, benefits, and strategies to solve relevant problems in the market. Generate a collection of relevant options rooted in issues that matter to future customers. Bring creative collaborators with different perspectives together to envision and prioritize new concepts.

Spark Sessions generate creative ideas.

Increments

Test ideas, improve solutions, and get traction with feedback from real stakeholders. Turn ideas into reality by building momentum with evidence that new ideas are indeed feasible and viable in your organization. Build buy-in internally, establish structure for new projects, and persevere through the messy middle of change.

Concept Testing will move you from idea to reality faster.

Impact 

Generate results by bridging the gap between research and development and marketing and sales. Use lean, entrepreneurial methods to convert pilots to a repeatable and scalable sales plan. Measure indicators of success and adapt as you roll out your new offer.

The Strategy Scorecard provides the right metrics to ensure progress on strategic objectives.

Learn more

Find out how the process will work in your organization and how to get started.